The Rome Total Realism team is proud to announce the release of RTRVII. This is the third and final part of the RTRVII project, which started with the release of RTR: The Iberian Conflict (TIC), in January 2008, was followed by RTRVII: Fate of Empires (FOE), in November 2009, and now reaches its culmination here, in RTRVII.

It is with great pride that we present this project to the greater community. Total War Center has been a marvellous home and has been central to the development of this mod. Without the insight of our friends, fans, and partners this project would not be as great as it is today. The developers of this mod thoroughly enjoyed each and every step of the process which led to the culmination of our efforts. We hope that you, as the player, will have as much fun playing, as we had developing RTRVII.

The Map

The RTR VII map is essentially an extension of the map from RTR VII: Fate of Empires. The map extends north and encompasses all of Gaul, while extending east to the Black Sea. South of the Balkans there is Greece, and east of the Aegean Sea there is Ionia. All the regions from RTRVII: FOE (Iberian, North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Epirus, and Southern Gaul) will be included.

The intention of the RTR VII map is to explore the Western Mediterranean in great detail. We hope to provide the player with an immersive and unique experience that accurately represents the geopolitical situation during the time period.

The Factions

SPQR
Dynasty of Aiakides
Independent Dynasties
Independent City-States
Dynasty of Antigonos
League of Aitolia
City-State of Sparta
Republic of Carthago
Kingdom of the Illyrioi
Confederacy of the Lusitani
Kingdom of the Arverni
Barbarian Tribes
Kingdom of the Aedui
Confederacy of the Getai
League of Achaia
Kingdom of the Massyli
Kingdom of the Norici
Confederacy of the Celtiberi
Dynasty of Attalos
Free Peoples

New Features

Strat Map

The new strategy map is based around the concept of detail and quality. From the outset of the development process, the intent of the developers was to create an immersive environment in which the player can manage his empire in a historically accurate setting. This means that the RTRVII map has been "zoomed in" in order to create a more detailed environment.

Players should also notice that there are many unique elements to RTRVII that are very rare amongst other mods. Nearly all of the models on the campaign map have been redone, including the settlements and naval vessels. The RTRVII strategy map bears almost no resemblance to RTR 6 or Vanilla. The new map truly is a piece art which we are sure our fans will enjoy.

MES

RTR VII will use a polished version of the economical system which you will already have used in RTRVII: Fate of Empires. This means that you will have to make important choices, which will influence the further development of a settlement.

Every region has certain resources, around which the economical system has been set up. Once you have gained access to a resource, you will be able to use it in that particular region to build up an industry. In other regions you will be able to do this too, but then you'll first have to construct an 'import building'. Each economical building tree has specific bonusses, and as your settlement grows you will be able to develop more industries. Like this, it's up to you what you want your economy to look like!

Spies

The use of spies has been completely revamped in RTR VII, which adds a new tactical dynamic to the game. A freshly recruited spy will have different functions, which you will have to utulise to fully benefit from them. In his home settlement, a spie will provide stability bonusses. However, in adjacent regions he will cause unrest and help to integrate a newly conquered region into your empire.

Roman Leadership System

The Roman Leadership System implemented in Rome Total Realism VII is based on the Cursus Honorum of ancient Rome. Players utilizing the Romans will notice that each family member is designated a role. These family members will be best suited to preform assignments and duties that they would have been presented with during the time of the Roman Republic. All family members are capable of climbing the Cursus Honorum, however they will be need to accomplish historical requirements before they can climb each rank.

Family members with different roles will have different abilities. For example, Praetors will hold imperium within friendly provinces, but not outside of Roman territory. Aediles will have administrative abilities within settlements, but not outside of settlements. This means that different family members will be more suited to accomplish a task than others.

The system will consist of two parts: a trait and an ancillary. When a family member becomes eligible for a certain office, a trait telling so will appear. To actually benefit from it, he will have to travel to Rome itself to get the ancillary connected to the trait. When the character is in an area which is part of his imperium, for instance when a new aedilis gets into a settlement, the combination will start working. This is visible through a trait and the fact that a character gets command, management and influence bonusses connected to his office.

Since the first of August, much has been done behind the scenes to make RTR VII an even better and more unique gaming experience. This patch is the culmination of our efforts so far, which we proudly present.

The patch includes many bug fixes, but also adds some great new features including a more unique Aetolian experience, as well as better balanced Antigonid and Spartan factions. Besides that, we've rebalanced the way in which settlements are integrated (to make it more comprehensible for the AI). Added to that are several new descriptions for buildings and units, and other improvements to the game.

Changes, Fixes and Features in Patch 1:

-Incorporated DVK901's City-CTD Fix
-Fixed the walls CTD/error message
-Rebalanced the political integration system (vast improvements to the governor trait, made the government buildings 0-cost and indestructible)
-Some other fixes and improvements to governments
-Reorganised the ports and war ports, removing the superfluous levels and improving the structure
-Upgraded Amphipolis and Cassandreia to major regions, in order to help the Antigonids and increase the importance of Macedonia
-Corrected a number of issues where there was no government building option, such as in Kirtha, and/or where there were random buildings called (B4) Id_4
-Improved the UI alerts (which drop down on the left of the screen)
-Added Force Diplomacy
-Incorporated ProvostGuard's Massylian Royal Family submod
-Added descriptions for several buildings, such as the port buildings, Pella, and the Dacian special building Kogaionon
-Added new descriptions for the Getic units
-Added some new campaign descriptions
-Split the Getic and the Thracian peltasts into two different units, with different skins
-Made the Thracian AoR more unique compared to the Getic one
-Fixed roads which did not form on several parts of the map
-Improved the skin of the Norici heavy cavalry
-Changed the colour of the cape on the Dii Swordsmen, as their purple cape could only have been afforded by the nobility
-Updated the AoR Greek Toxotai model and skin
-Added Aitolian specific unit stats for Toxotai, Psiloi, Peltastai and Thureophoroi to improve the Aitolian experience
-Fixed the recruitment of the Aquitani Soldurii (it could be recruited in Gergovia before as well as Burdigala)
-Updated the Samnite Milites' and Celtiberian Officer's models
-Improvements to the faction banners
-Corrected many typos in the text files, such as an Aetolian government building called “Koinon ton Achaion”
-Fixed the Keltoi government info card, thanks to Voice of Treason
-Corrected Greek spelling in the campaign descriptions
-Moved a grain resource out of the Atlantic Ocean into its correct place in Gaul
-Corrected the traits limiting minifaction expansion, which will hopefully bring about more logical results in those regards
-Changed the Lusitani symbol to a more historically appropriate one
-Implemented the Fortuna Orbis Germanic symbol for the Suebii
-Some sprite fixes
-Several other minor fixes to various things
-Sorted out some issues with faction names (Getai/Getae and Illyrioi/Illyrians/Ardaioi, for example)
-Rebalanced some of the Spartan troops which were over the top, hopefully limiting Sparta’s expansion
-Corrected a bug in the night sky, (partly) thanks to draig glas cysefin
-Removed the Punic Temple in Delphi
-Fixed the Thermon harbour issue
-Updated RLS switch files (enabled launcher function)
-Slightly increased the morale of general's units
-Fixed the Aitolian intro not working bug
-Fixed the Spartan King bug

In addition to that, Patch 1 incorporates Hotfix 1, so you no longer need to install Hotfix 1 if you install the mod.

Note that this is not save game compatible!

We have taken a great step towards offering a complete RTR VII experience, but we are not done yet. For example, a number of descriptions are still needed for buildings. We will continue to work towards the completion of our project, RTR VII Gold, and would like to ask you, the fans and players, to report any bugs you find. The more bugs you report, the more we can fix! And finally, have fun playing :)

'Download and Installation Instructions'

To install this patch, place the self-extracting archive in the RTW Directory in which your RTRVII folder is located (e.g. Program Files/The Creative Assembly/Rome - Total War) and extract it. It will ask you if you want to replace files and merge folders; say yes to all (if it doesn't ask you, you probably haven't installed the patch correctly).